Austin’s city-operated government television channel ATXN has received a record six nominations from the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, aka the Lone Star Emmys. Nominations include a documentary on teen drunken driving, a feature on EMS Communications employees, and the popular 122nd Cadet Class series, which follows a group of police cadets through their training to become officers. In addition to these programs, ATXN televises approximately 600 public meetings throughout the year, all of which are archived online at atxn.tv. The station has been recognized as the best government TV channel in the country by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors for the past three years. For a list of nominations, see the city website.

The Workers Defense Project weighed in on our living wage story Monday after its publication. A representative for the group offered this statement via email: “Our reading is that the 1999 Cornyn opinion only applies to school districts and other political subdivisions of the state. It does not apply to home-rule cities like Austin. As stated in the opinion ‘School districts, like other political subdivisions of the state, other than home-rule cities, have only those powers expressly conferred on them by the constitution or by statute or those necessarily implied from the powers conferred.’ (emphasis added). As a home-rule city, Austin, unlike school districts or counties, is not limited to act solely within the confines of state law. It has the authority to act above and beyond what is expressly written in state statute or the state constitution. Therefore, the fact that section 2258 ‘does not authorize’ a political subdivision ‘to require a contractor pay a wage greater than the local prevailing wage’ would not prohibit the City of Austin from establishing a living wage floor for contracted construction workers. The pending Dallas County opinion may of course flesh out the authority of political subdivisions to supplement prevailing wages with a living wage floor on public projects, but the authority of counties to take such action ought not be conflated with the authority of home-rule cities to do so.” The original story has been updated to include this information.

Austin’s University Democrats also issued their endorsements last week as part of their “Endorsement Palooza.” In addition to endorsing the Proposition 1 rail bond, the group has endorsed the following candidates: DeWayne Lofton (District 1), Delia Garza (District 2), “Pio” Renteria (District 3), Katrina Daniel (District 4), Ann Kitchen (District 5), Jimmy Flannigan (District 6), Jeb Boyt (District 7), Ed Scruggs (District 8), Chris Riley (District 9) and Mandy Dealey (District 10). UDems endorsed Steve Adler for mayor.

Last week’s Lower Colorado River Authority meeting kicked off with a resolution honoring senior communications specialist John Williams, who retired in June after 39 years. The resolution highlighted Williams’ role manning KWTR River Radio in the 1990s, serving as a spokesman for LCRA, and providing updates and information through “22 floods, 10 droughts, many localized electric outages and brownouts, and a substation explosion and fire.” Williams also wrote a book about the history of the LCRA, and during his tenure served under eight general managers and 100 board members. In his speech, Williams said that he had seen lots of changes in his career at the water authority. Williams joked that there was only one dull moment — in April 1979. “This was never just another job … We were doing something special, and we were doing something special for the people of Texas. If you don’t mind my saying so, it was kind of like we were doing the Lord’s work. (It was) a feeling of providing a public service to the people of Texas,” said Williams. “I’m especially privileged that I got to work here during an era when LCRA reclaimed its legacy … it made an active choice to be a leader, not only in its electric operations, which are nonparalleled, but to also take the lead in its stewardship providing water and environmental resources. God bless Texas, and God bless the LCRA.”

City Council election season is in full swing, and the endorsements continue to roll in for candidates across the city. The Black Austin Democrats announced their Council endorsements Friday. They are: Ora Houston (District 1), Delia Garza (District 2), Fred McGhee (District 3), Greg Casar (District 4), Ann Kitchen (District 5), Matt Stillwell (District 6), Leslie Pool (District 7), Darrell Pierce (District 8), Kathie Tovo (District 9) and Mandy Dealey (District 10). The Black Austin Democrats endorsed Sheryl Cole for mayor. Council candidates completed a questionnaire as part of the BAD endorsement process. Their responses are available here.

Since the publication of our story on the latest round of Austin Environmental Democrats endorsements, president Ted Siff tells us there is new information. Though the group initially said it did not endorse any candidate in the District 6 race, a review of their bylaws showed that they endorsed both Matt Stillwell and Jimmy Flannigan. Because there are more than two candidates in the District 6 race, only 40 percent of the vote is required to earn an endorsement, not 60 percent. That information had AED reviewing previous endorsements, as well, and they found a similar situation in the District 9 race. Though the group previously said they did not endorse a candidate in that race, both Kathie Tovo and Chris Riley earned more than 40 percent of the vote, and have been belatedly co-endorsed by the Austin Environmental Democrats.

The bickering continued in District 3 on Thursday, when candidate Shaun Ireland called out opponent Jose Valera for not voting in Austin. Ireland said the lack of voting is “disappointing.” In a news release, Ireland said that Valera has only voted twice as an adult, and not in any of Austin’s local municipal or bond elections. He noted that Valera’s voter registration was currently suspended due to inactivity. “Austinites expect candidates and public officials to vote on a regular basis. Valera’s voting history denotes a dereliction of civic duty,” wrote Ireland. Valera pointed out that he has served his country since the age of 18, first at West Point Academy, then as a combat arms officer in Iraq. He said his voting record has no bearing on how he would serve the district as a Council member. The accusation of “dereliction of civic duty” against Valera comes from what some might consider an odd source — Ireland’s record shows that he first voted in Austin fairly recently, in 2011. However, campaign staff explained that Ireland had voted consistently since turning 18, but only registered in Austin when he moved here three years ago. Prior to that, Ireland voted in Nacogdoches.

Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant said Thursday his office has counted 49,800 new voter registrations this year, but because they are behind in processing, he expects the number to go well above 50,000. He said registrations are high for a midterm election year. He noted that in 2012, Travis County had 635,000 registered voters. After the election, the office purged about 40,000 of those. “This is the fastest we’ve dug out (from a purge),” Elfant said, noting that he expected considerably more residents to register before the Oct. 6 deadline. Anyone who needs information on how to register or a registration form can go to the county website and download the form.

Austin firefighters have asked U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel to reconsider his ruling to not allow the union, IAFF Local 975, to intervene in a lawsuit between the U.S. Department of Justice and the City of Austin. The city has agreed to a settlement of claims over discrimination against minorities, but firefighters have opposed it on the grounds that the 2013 hiring practices were fair to all. Firefighters claim the proposed settlement will hand over hiring decisions to the Justice Department and prevent firefighters from bargaining on the hiring process. The city says that is not true. In addition, several individual firefighters are asking to intervene because they say the failure to negotiate could result in the loss of opportunities for promotion. The motion is the first step in the union’s march to New Orleans, where members hope the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will overturn the judge’s decision. In addition, firefighters are asking Yeakel to postpone a “fairness hearing” currently set for Oct. 29.

If you haven’t had a chance to weigh in yet, Austin Parks Foundation and Tur Partners are teaming up to host their last “public visioning session” for Auditorium Shores and Butler Park at 5 p.m. Oct.  1. Those who attend will be asked to weigh in on preliminary concepts and ideas around long-term infrastructure and design improvements to the park. Changes to the park — in particular the off-leash dog park — made for some long nights at City Council last year. Because Auditorium Shores is currently in the midst of being improved, the meeting will take place at the also-recently-controversial Fiesta Gardens Building and Patio at Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach, 2101 Jesse E. Segovia Street.

The Electric Utility Commission appointed Karren Karen Hadden, the vice chair of the committee, to serve on the Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force during its Sept. 15 meeting. Council created the task force via resolution, which was sponsored by Council Member Kathie Tovo. According to the resolution, the goals of the task force include identifying appropriate funding levels for low-income weatherization programs.

A member of the Govalle-Johnston Terrace neighborhood who last year tried to stop PUD zoning for the project known as thinkEast has complained to the city about the participation of PODER leader and City Council candidate Susana Almanza on the neighborhood planning contact team. Alex Zankich sent a letter to Greg Guernsey, director of the Planning and Development Review Department, alleging that Almanza should not be on the team because she lives in Montopolis and is chair of that neighborhood’s contact team. According to the city’s website, Daniel Llanes is the primary contact and Janie Rangel the secondary contact for that neighborhood. However, city planner Margaret Valenti said that she has the official list (which is not online) and Almanza is listed as the secondary contact. Llanes said that Almanza’s organization, PODER, is the member, and that anyone in the organization can take on the duties of the neighborhood contact team member. He also explained that Rangel is the vice chair, but asked that someone else be the secondary contact for health reasons. Zankich wants the city to somehow remove Almanza from the team. But that can’t happen under city regulations, which give the city no authority over the neighborhood teams. According to Carol Haywood, comprehensive planning manager, only the neighborhood team itself can remove or select members. She said, “The city can’t be the bad guy, the big enforcer guy, and know what’s going on in all the neighborhoods … It’s up to the people who vote these people into office to take care of their situation.”